Compromise
by Writerwithagoal
Summary: James and Lily have been living together for eight months and they keep changing the thermostat on each other. One night instead of bickering about the flat temp, they decide to find other ways to compromise.


She was tired. That was the only thing she was sure of, standing and running between class and work for 15 hours had her starting to wish she could fall asleep in public. As she glared at the broken and out of order sign on the elevator she turned and started the five flight trek to her sixth floor apartment. Lily Evans was starting to wish that she had gone for something 'easy' like history or English. Between working as one of the junior court clerks at the Oxford Court Center and studying for her L.L.M in International Law at Oxford University she was dead on her feet.

Turning the lock she pushed the door open and inhaled quickly. Her apartment was too warm. While it was an abnormally cold March for the South of England, it wasn't freezing, though according to her boyfriend it was. They'd been living together for eight months and so far his incessant complaining just had her rolling her eyes at him. Growing up with a mother from Dubai and a father from London James was built for warmer climates, a point he made often.

Lily groaned and walked into the apartment far enough to shut and lock the door before checking that James wasn't home. Comfortable that her boyfriend wasn't in she turned to the Air Con controls to reset it. Shaking her head she pulled her coat off and set her bag on the shelf by the door rolling her shoulders as she went. She could feel the room around her starting to cool down as the central air reset to the normal setting of 21ºC and sighed happily as she moved into the living room and grabbed the cardigan she'd stashed on the couch. Wrapping herself up in it she moved around the flat shedding her day the way a snake changes its skin.

An hour later she was curled up in a large jumper and sweats as she sipped a piping hot cup of peppermint looking over notes from the course work for the next morning seminar. While she loved working on furthering her legal degree, she hated being a professor. She wanted to be a barrister and working to

She would never tell her friends that she was jealous of their adventures, and first years were annoying. They couldn't be bothered to proofread, reference correctly or just put in the bare minimum effort. She would much rather be off at conferences with her advisors like Mary, or working on practical applications of the material like Marlene. Mary, her moot court and research partner was currently at an overseas convention for a week, on international human trafficking and how to stop it. Her other best friend Marlene was finishing up her first month at the European Court of Justice as a clerk.

Sighing she rolled her shoulders as she read over the material she'd be teaching the first years in seminar on Tort 1. While she had excelled at the course herself, she hated teaching it this term. Tort while it could be interesting was almost always about case law. Rubbing her neck she tried to keep from yawning.

Lily must have fallen asleep as a loud bang of the front door hitting the door stopper woke her up. Sitting up and glancing at the flat door she glowered at her boyfriend. James Potter was a great footie player and a brilliant medical student, but boy was he loud.

"Jesus Potter, are you trying to wake the dead?" she snapped looking at him wrapping the throw tighter around her shoulders.

"Blimey Evans, why are you sitting in the dark, and why the hell is the flat so cold," he said shivering as he pulled his coat from his shoulders, his bag on the hook next to hers.

"Because! Unlike you I don't like living in a sauna," Lily stuck her tongue out at her bespeckled boyfriend only marginally annoyed. This conversation had been going on for the last eight months since they moved in together. James was used to a warm house and Lily was used to the house being cold, also heating was expensive and while James kept saying he'd pay for the additional charges Lily wasn't comfortable with James paying such an expensive bill even if his parents could afford it.

James sighed and noticing the blankets on the couch walked over to kiss her hello. Lily glared at him as his post practice sweat dripped from his hair onto her seminar notes.

"Potter," she groaned pushing him away though she relished his hello kisses.

"Right, right, you don't like my sweat," he sighed dramatically shaking his head sending drops of sweat flying and Lily ducked to cover her notes laughing at his antics.

"Go shower and then come tell me about your day," she said shooing him off towards their bathroom.

Lily watched as her boyfriend walked away towards their bedroom and through to the bathroom for a shower. Honestly Lily couldn't care about the sweat though sometimes the droplets made reading her notes the next morning a little difficult. She caught herself watching his backside move away from her before ducking her head, her cheeks heating. Slipping her notes into her folder for the class tomorrow she stood up to restart the kettle and make herself and James a nice cuppa before bed.

As the kettle whistled and she poured another cup of peppermint for herself, she strained to hear if he was still in the shower. James was the center forward for Oxford University and as such often came home with more bruises than he could account for. Opening the cupboard she looked at the aray of tea blends his mother had stocked their kitchen with when they'd moved in together back in the beginning of August. Biting her lip she pulled down a chai blended with cinnamon, cloves, ginger and a dash of peppercorn, which James seemed to like post practices and long days in the clinic.

The sounds of the water turning off as she looked around the kitchen feeling bad that there wasn't any dinner prepared though she knew of the two of them, James was by far the better cook of their fearsome-twosome. Pouring his tea she picked both mugs up and walked back into their sitting room and settled back on the couch as James wondered in wrapped in sweats and a jumper.

"Oooh tea for me?" he asked plopping onto the couch next to her and taking his Man. United mug from her hands and sighing happily.

"How did I end up dating a bloke who loves Manchester United," Lily sighed shaking her head though her lips were turned up in a smirk.

"Probably my dexterous fingers and thoroughly excellent wit," he chuckled putting his mug on the coffee table and pulling her into his arms. Lily squealed as she was pulled into his arms.

"For Christ's Sake! Potter," She glowered as her tea sloshed as she looked up at her boyfriend.

"Sorry Evans, but if you continue to put the heat so low, I'm going to require human warmth. Even if you are a sprite," he teased taking the tea from her hands and placing it next to his mug. The Navy and white stripes of her WBA mug in stark contrast with the brilliance of the red from his Manchester United mug.

Lily pretended to pout and curled around him though her legs stopped just short of his feet as they cuddled on the couch. James chuckled and pulled the few throws around them as they cocooned together on the couch. Arms wrapped around Lily's waist he snagged the remote for their tv and switched it to the replay of the Arsenal v Chelsea on Sky Sports settling into relax after a very long day between rounds and practice. Lily yawned and placed a single kiss to James' collarbone. Between her hours prepping for court, teaching and his rounds at the teaching hospital and practice; nights together before midnight were a rare occurrence. .

"I missed you today," she yawned looking at the screen with mild interest.

"You know I missed you too," he murmured, his own eyes drooping as he looked out at the TV across from them.

"We should go to bed," she whispered softly curling closer to her loves body heat.

"Mhmm," James sounded as he rubbed slow circles on her back. Lily groaned as his mini massage worked out some knots in her lower back and sighed happily. This was Lily's favorite time to be with him. The stress of the world oozing away and leaving just their silly little arguments and love to envelope them.

Night settled around them, the busy shops below their apartment closing and the noise in the street dissipating into a semi stillness. The two lovers deep in their sleep, limbs tangled together wrapped in a nest of blankets on the couch as the night passed around them.


End file.
